


and my soul entwines the view (of an ocean and a sea)

by blackkat



Series: Horoscope Drabbles [30]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 08:19:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17362394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: “There's something down there,” Tobirama says when he surfaces.





	and my soul entwines the view (of an ocean and a sea)

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Normal Horoscopes on Tumblr:
> 
> Aries: A summer palace of coral and rock. A living, breathing place that pulls itself along to warmer waters.

“There's something down there,” Tobirama says when he surfaces.

Izuna frowns, leaning over the side of the boat like he can see down into the depths that easily. “A shipwreck?” he asks, mystified.

Tobirama shakes his head, hooking an arm over the side to hold himself up as he sets two more pearls in their bag. “It looks like it’s made of coral,” he says, and checks the time. Late, but not late enough that their brothers will worry if they're out longer. “I'm going to see what it is,” he says stubbornly, and when Izuna opens his mouth he adds, “Wait here.”

Dissatisfaction thins Izuna's mouth. “Hashirama will _kill me_ if you drown yourself for _coral_ ,” he insists. “Tobirama, we can come back tomorrow, when the tide goes out—”

“It won't be there tomorrow,” Tobirama says, and before Izuna can argue any further he releases the boat, diving back into the water. He thinks he hears a shout behind him, but doesn’t pause. The ocean is calm and clear, shading to deeper blues along the crags of the sea floor, and Tobirama has lived in these waters all his life, knows the shape of the ocean and what should be at the bottom. This cove in particular is quiet, the oysters where they collect pearls in relatively shallow waters, and Tobirama has never seen the strange growths rising just beyond the oyster beds before.

It looks like stone, covered with twisted growths of coral, sparks of light like sea glass sparkling. Tobirama skims the edge, careful of the growths and his bare skin, following the strange, too-precise lines of it. It’s as if the ocean floor suddenly became several dozen feet shallower, except this is stone and old coral, nothing manmade. Izuna and Tobirama slept on the beach last night, and they were diving the day before. There was no sign of this thing then, and they would have seen someone placing it here.

Just as Tobirama’s lungs start to ache, two wings of coral catch his eye, opening out into the sea. Beyond them is light, startling against dark rock, and Tobirama pauses, warring with himself. The desire for air is sharp, but—so is the need to see what this thing is. He knows what Izuna would tell him, and what common sense says, but Tobirama has never been able to resist a mystery.

Decided, he catches an edge of bare stone, twists his body, and arrows through the narrow gap. It’s like a tunnel leading up, and he rises, fingertips skimming smooth tile and precious stone, and—

Air. He breaks the surface with a gasp, suddenly washed with light, and shakes the water from his hair and eyes. Gets his fingers on the lip of the opening—more tiles, worn smooth, some of them traced with art that Tobirama recognizes as ancient—and hauls himself up and out of the water to kneel on smooth stone. The air is a sweet relief, and he takes a few deep gulps of it, then lifts his head.

There's a hand outstretched to him, dark-skinned and callused.

Tobirama freezes, caught entirely off guard. Slowly, carefully, he follows the hand to an arm, the arm to the line of a shoulder, shoulder up to a bemused face. Kind, not hostile, and smiling, even if there's something wry to it.

“I think you're the first person to make it in here in centuries,” the man says, and twitches his fingers just a little. Startled into motion, Tobirama takes his hand, and the man pulls him to his feet. His hand is warm, solid, and Tobirama isn't entirely sure this isn't some form of hallucination, but—it certainly doesn’t feel anything but entirely real.

“Centuries,” he repeats, disbelieving. But—the room they're standing in looks like a grand palace chamber, all glass and gems and smooth white stone, and the man looks perfectly at ease here.

“At least three,” the man confirms, and laughs a little, rubbing the scar over the bridge of his nose. “You even managed to find the front door. Most people need a guide for that.” His eyes flicker over Tobirama, from his white hair to his bare feet, and his smile shifts into something warmer, more welcoming. “I think I've been waiting for you.”

Awareness prickles across Tobirama’s skin, makes his breath catch. He pauses, knowing he should be wary, knowing he should turn around and dive back into the passage, get to the surface and away, but—

The man is still gripping his hand, using it to tug him closer.

“You feel it, don’t you?” he asks, and Tobirama suddenly realizes there are shark teeth around his neck, that the hand wrapped around his feels like it’s spent just as much time holding a blade. “The sea has always called you.”

Tobirama wants to bristle, wants to pull away. Wants to step closer, breathe this stranger in and never leave. “I—” he starts, and then realizes he has nothing else to say. The words won't come.

“I'm Iruka,” the man says, and finally lets go, though his hand falling away feels like a cold absence. “You're one of my subjects.”

Tobirama shivers, swallows. It feels like the truth. “I am no one’s subject,” he says sharply, _lies_ , and—

Iruka laughs. Grins, like that’s a challenge, and turns. he steps past Tobirama, right up to the edge of the passage back to the sea, and gives Tobirama a look that’s entirely a dare. “Then you don’t want to swim with me,” he says, not a question, and dives into the water without hesitation. There's a flash of scales, of skin, of teeth and darkness and bright fins, and then something long and sinuous is curling out into the ocean, taking all of Tobirama’s breath with it.

A dragon, he thinks, and something like awe and curiosity and _want_ is rising in his chest. He takes one step after Iruka, heart bounding, excitement rising like the tide, and—

There's a whisper he hadn’t heard before. Something bone-deep and soft, on the very edge of his hearing, that wavers in and out like waves breaking. It feels like home, like something _right_ , and Tobirama takes two quick steps and dives, arrowing through the water and following the flicker of scales and fins towards the surface.


End file.
